Pune Mirror: Pune: Thursday, June
02, 2016.
Leader of the
ISO-ceritified Maan village tampers with records to show she has a toilet at
her home; complainant's RTI brings dishonesty to light.
India's first
ISO-recognised gram panchayat sarpanch landed in a soup for not adhering to
basic sanitary norms. Moreover, the leader was found guilty of faking documents
that said she followed these regulations quite sincerely. The district
administration on Monday ordered the suspension of Maan gram panchayat's
sarpanch for not having a toilet at her house and for giving wrong details
while filing the nomination papers.
The
administration has also ordered a criminal case against the accused, Smita
Sagar Bhosale and former gramsevak (village development officer) Babaji Kute
for tampering the record to insert her husband's name in the list of
beneficiaries of the toilet scheme by making a back-dated entry. Another local,
Rajendra Pralhad Bhosale, had filed a case regarding this in the court of
additional district collector Pradeep Patil.
Smita Bhosale
was elected as sarpanch in July 2015, after her panel won with absolute majority.
In her nomination forms, she claimed her house had a toilet. Itis mandatory,
according to state norms for any village sarpanch to have basic sanitation
facilities. To hide this 'lack', which could have hampered her future, she
tampered the processing book of the gram panchayat and mentioned her husband,
Sagar Bhosle's name in a backdated record to show that her toilet was being
constructed before the election took place.
When
complainant Bhosale came to know about the fraud, he filed an RTI with Kute,
who refused to share the information from the book. Then, the complainant filed
an appeal with the block development office (BDO). It was during the hearing
that Kute submitted details that shed light on misdoings. Based on the records,
Bhosle filed a suit against the sarpanch with the collector office.
Talking to
Pune Mirror, advocate Amit Avhad who represented the complainant, said,
"During the hearing, Smita Bhosale inserted broethrin- law Chandrakant
Bhosle's name in the processing book to avoid trouble. This was enough for us
to prove the double-tampering. It was firmly established that she did not have
a toilet at her home, which is against Section 14 (J) 5 of Bombay Village
Panchayat act."
Avhad added
that the sarpanch could not provide details of an existing toilet at her place
during the hearing. Furthermore, she failed to clarify the reason behind
tampering the documents that the complainant received under RTI from the
record. The additional district collector in his order disqualified the
sarpanch in adherence to the Bombay Village Panchayat Act. "The public
representative is not liable to stay on the position if he or she doesn't own a
toilet," said the order.
The
Additional collector also observed the role of sarpanch and gramsevak in
tampering the record. He also issued another order to the BDO to file criminal
cases against both of them .
The sarpanch
could not provide details of an existing toilet at her place during the
hearing. Furthermore, she failed to clarify the reason behind tampering the
documents.
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